Pretty funny Heibges, considering your current sig. Following is the accepted original statement.
Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
This statement was used as a motto on the title page of
An Historical Review of the Constitution and Government of Pennsylvania. (1759) which was attributed to Franklin in the edition of 1812, but in a letter of September 27, 1760 to David Hume, he states that he
published this book and denies that he wrote it, other than a few remarks that were credited to the Pennsylvania Assembly, in which he served. The
phrase itself was first used in a letter from that Assembly dated November 11, 1755 to the Governor of Pennsylvania. An article on the origins of this statement here includes a scan that indicates the original typography of the 1759 document, which uses an archaic form of "s": "Thoſe who would give up Essential Liberty to purchaſe a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Researchers now believe that a fellow diplomat by the name of
Richard Jackson is the primary author of the book. With the information thus far available the issue of authorship of the
statement is not yet definitely resolved, but the evidence indicates it was very likely Franklin, who in the
Poor Richard's Almanack of 1738 is known to have written a similar proverb: "
Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, nor Liberty to purchase power."
Many paraphrased variants derived from this saying have arisen and have usually been incorrectly attributed to Franklin:
"They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
"Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither"
"He who would trade liberty for some temporary security, deserves neither liberty nor security"
"He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither"
"People willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve neither and will lose both."
"If we restrict liberty to attain security we will lose them both."
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."
"He who gives up freedom for safety deserves neither"
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin
http://www.futureofthebook.com/stories/storyReader$605
The second link has an actual reproduction of the original document. Of course as noted there is no direct evidence that Franklin actually said this, and he himself denied it.